Grant: Operating Grant - PA: Regional Partnership Program - Newfoundland and Labrador

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and results in substantial disability in the elderly. It primarily involves the joints of the knee, hip, spine, hand and foot, and is strongly associated with increasing age. It imposes a great economic burden on society and this societal burden (both in terms of personal suffering and use of health resources) is expected to increase worldwide with the increasing prevalence of obesity and the aging of the community. While there are drugs available on the market that reduce pain and improve function, there are no drugs available that decrease or eliminate the disease, and there is no reliable method of determining the amount of joint destruction in osteoarthritis. There is a pressing need to develop reliable markers - biomarkers, which can indicate the amount of joint destruction. These biomarkers will be of value in early detection of disease, improving earlier treatments for patients with fast progression of the disease. Biomarkers also provide an opportunity of drug development and testing in clinical trials. The emerging field of metabolomics provides the opportunity to identify biomarkers from body fluids or tissues in a single step. We will use this approach to follow-up on our preliminary experiments to identify new biomarkers for osteoarthritis in patients undergoing total joint replacement. This study will provide valuable information about the biomarkers related to osteoarthritis, which can be used to identify patients with fast progression of the disease and provide earlier treatments.